The Mids dealt North Carolina a 25-12 blow and Campbell a 23-9 loss Saturday in North Carolina.

Junior heavyweight Dan Miller ran his winning streak to four in a row with a pair of wins Saturday.

Jan. 28, 2012

BUIES CREEK, N.C. — The Navy wrestling team snapped a three-match skid on Saturday by scoring a pair of dual victories on the road against North Carolina and Campbell. The Mids earned a 25-12 win over North Carolina in Chapel Hill to open the day’s action before routing Campbell in Buies Creek in the nightcap. Navy now stand 5-6 on the year which has featured a 4-2 mark on the road.

“We competed hard in both matches today, but when you look back upon our performances we gave up too many points,” said Navy head coach Bruce Burnett. “Getting back out on the mat and getting a couple of wins certainly gives our guys some confidence, but we need to shore things up and wrestle to win. This next week is an important week as we prepare for the All-Academy Championship and there’s no doubt Army and Air Force will be well prepared.”

Four wrestlers closed out the day earning a pair of wins, including senior team captain Aaron Kalil (Salem, N.H.) at 133 pounds. Kalil opened the day by producing an impressive 7-1 victory over UNC senior Brock LiVorio. The two previously squared off at the Southern Scuffle at the beginning of the month and Kalil squeaked out a 2-1 victory. Saturday’s match was completely different as Kalil wrestled one of his better matches of the season. Meanwhile, he narrowly defeated Campbell’s Joey Rizzolino to cap off the night in a 4-3 decision.

Kalil now stands 23-8 on the year and with his win over LiVorio became the 19th different wrestler in program history to join the 90-win club. He owns a 91-49 career record and is tied for 16th on Navy’s all-time wins list. Meanwhile, Kalil is now 9-2 in dual matches this season.

Junior Bobby Barnhisel (River Forest, Ill.) also walked away with a 2-0 mark, which included a huge victory at 157 pounds in the Mids’ win over North Carolina. Navy trailed 12-10 heading into Barnhisel’s match, finding itself down 6-0 straight out of the gate when Zac Bennett pinned Navy’s Paul Rands (Cary, Ill.) at 197 pounds. Barnhisel not only gave the Mids the lead for good, he was able to pin the nation’s 18th-ranked wrestler in the form of sophomore Corey Mock. For Barnhisel, it marked his second win over a ranked wrestler this season after dealing Oklahoma’s Matt Lester, ranked 12th at the time, an 8-6 loss in early January.

“Bobby gave us a huge lift with a big, big win over the Mock kid and it definitely got the guys fired up,” added Burnett. “Not only was it a big win in terms of turning the match in our direction, beating a ranked wrestler will pay off for him in the next RPI. On Friday night, Mock beat Kyle John from Maryland, 11-2, and John pinned Bobby a week ago. That tells you the quality of wrestler Mock is and how well Bobby performed.”

Senior 184-pound Luke Rebertus (Gloucester, Va.) captured a 2-0 win over UNC’s Thomas Ferguson to start the day and capped it off with a 14-6 major decision over John Merickel of Campbell at night. Ranked 13th nationally, Rebertus has won six of his last seven bouts, including four straight. He stands 22-9 on the year and is just five wins away from 100 wins, a feat just 10 other wrestlers at Navy have accomplished. Meanwhile, he is eight wins shy of reaching the 30-win mark for the third time in his career.

Finally, junior heavyweight Dan Miller (Berlin, Md.) looked back to form on Saturday, picking up a 9-0 major decision over UNC’s Frank Abbondanza and following up with a 2-1 triumph over Joe Nolan. A triumph it was, as Miller gave up better than 30 pounds to Nolan who weighed in at 284.5 pounds. Miller has wins in five of his last six matches, including each of the last four.

“Danny had a good weekend of wrestling,” said Burnett. “He stepped up and answered the call in the Carolina match after Paul was pinned. He got us a bonus point win and I couldn’t ask much more out of him.”

Three wrestlers - junior Mason Bailey (Fairmont, W.Va.), sophomore Joe Locksmith and freshman Peyton Walsh (Glen Allen, Va.) - turned in 1-0 marks. Bailey, who wrestled for just the second time since sitting out for nearly two months with a rib injury, turned in a solid 3-1 victory over the Tar Heels’ Kyle Kiss but sat out in the evening bout.

“I thought Mason wrestled a controlled match and I also let him know that it was good to see him wrestle to win,” said Burnett. “Last Sunday against (Scott) Winston, he was trying to control the match but was too conservative. He took a step in the right direction today.”

Locksmith earned an opportunity to get back into the lineup and produced. The second-year standout from Kissimmee, Fla., dealt UNC’s Jon Burns a 6-4 loss at 141 pounds.

“I felt like Joe needed a chance to get back on the mat and wrestle. I also thought his styled matched up against Burns a little better than Peyton (Walsh).

Speaking of Walsh, he took the mat in the nightcap where he picked up a 9-5 victory over Campbell’s Mark Hartenstine.

The Midshipmen will use the next week to prepare for the 18th-Annual All-Academy Championship which will be hosted by Air Force next Sunday. Last season Navy crowned five title winners while sending three others to championship bouts as the Mids claimed their 10th team title. Overall, Navy placed nine of its 10 wrestlers among the top three of last year’s championship.